Basket.



PATENTBD SEPT. 25, 1906.

J. B. MILLER.

BASKET APPLIOATION FILED 11110.30. 1905.

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No. 831,730. PATENTED SEPT. 25, 1906. J. B. MILLER.

BASKET.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 30, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATEN T FFTCE.

BASKET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 25, 1906.

Application filed December 30, 1905- Serial N0. 294,004:-

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES B. MILLER, of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Baskets, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification and shown in the accompanying drawings.

My invention is a hand-basket for use for shipping grapes or other small fruits short distances, it being also useful for carrying dinners, lunches, and other light articles, as at picnics or summer outings and excursions, the baskets being made commonly of thick paper or pasteboard with light metallic handles.

The main object of my invention is to produce a light basket at low cost to be once used and thrown away, the body of the basket being preferably made of a single blank sheet out to form by a punch and die.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be hereinafter brought out and made to appear and the novel features more particularly pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which, with the reference characters marked thereon, form a part of this specification.

Figure 1 is a plan of the basket with parts shown in full and dotted lines and a part broken away to better show the construction. Fig. 2 is an end elevation seen as indicated by arrow 2 in Fig. 1, a part being broken away. Fig. 3 is a side elevation seen as indicated by arrow 3 in Fig. 1, a part of the handle being broken away. Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal section through the middle on the dotted line 4 4 in Fig. 1, most of the handle being broken away and parts shown in various positions by full and by dotted lines. Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section on the dotted line 5 in Fig. 1, a part being broken away. Fig. 6 is a vertical longitudinal section of parts of the body of the basket similar to Fig. 4, showing a simple modification in the structure. Fig. 7 is a plan of the blank sheet going to form the body of the basket. Fig. 8 is an end elevation with the handle omitted, showing the side portions straight or before being bent to place, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1. Fig. 9 is a plan of a detachable cover in a single piece. Figs. 4, 5, 6, S, and 9 are drawn to various scales larger than that of Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 7.

In the drawings, A is the body of the basket, D the cover, and B the handle. The

body A, including the cover D, is commonly formed from a single flat sheet or blank C, Fig. 7, of moderately thick pasteboard bent to form, the blank being cut out of a sheet of the paper by a punch and die in the usual manner. The blank C is alike at both ends or both sides of a transverse middle line and comprises a central part a, going to form the bottom of the basket, with similar and equal side portions b b, forming the sides and double walls at the ends of the basket, the blank being bent along the various dot-and-dash lines when forming the body of the basket. The blank further comprises sections 0 c at its ends, which together form the cover D of the completed basket, and rectangular ties or connectors d d for the bottom a and the sections 0 c of the cover, the two portions 0 c, the connectors (Z (Z, and the central bottom part a being in a right line. The ties or connectors cl d form inclined inner walls for the flaring ends of the basket, as shown in Figs. 4 and 8, when the basket is formed from the blank, against which inner walls the end portions 0 e of the sides I) b are bent and lapped, as clearly shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 4. When thus brought to place and closely lapped, the parts are firmly united by simple fasteners ff, which constitute the only fasteners in the structure.

The two-part cover D of the basket is both longer and wider than the bottom a, the body of the basket being flaring, as shown in the figures. The end portions 6 e of the two sides b I) of the blank C are inclined or slanted toward the middle longitudinal line of the blank, as clearly shown in Fig. 7, for the pur pose of having them conform to the Hare of the body and have their upper and lower edges in the horizontal planes of the top and the bottom, respectively, of the body. The extreme ends or edges of the parts I) b are inclined, as shown, so that when the basket is formed these edges will be inclined and in planes parallel with the inclined sides of the flaring body, as appears in Fig. 2, for the purpose of appearance or comeliness of the structure.

The blank C is formed with four horizontal slots g g and ]L h, Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 7, for reeeiving the handle B when the body A is formed, the slots 9 9 being in the sides I) 7), near their upper edges, and the slots h 7L through the bottom and at the sides thereof, appears in Fig. 5, all four slots being in the middle vertical transverse plane of the body.

The handle is bowed across over the body, with its branches inwardly inclined toward their lower ends to conform to the slope or flare of the body, the ends being bent or folded sharply back to pass upward through the slots h h, as shown. The upper slots 9 g are made sufficiently wide through which to pass the doubled ends of the handle, the slots 71. It being just wide enough to admit the folded end portions 41 'i of the handle snugly through them. The blank 0 is further formed with two pairs of openings lcin straight lines and near to and parallel with the adjacent edges of the sides I) I), through which to pass tongues Zof the sections 0 c of the cover when said sections are closed down upon the body. These four openings k are alike and disposed equally on opposite sides of the middle transverse plane of the basket. When the sections 0 c are brought down, the tongues l are primarily bent downward on the outside of the body, as appears in Figs. 3 and 8, serving to strengthen the sides against outward pressure from within, the ends of the tongues being passed thence through the respective slots k to the inside of the body, as shown in Figs. 4 and 8. The members or sections 0 c of the blank C may be made of such length as to have their meeting ends or edges closely abut at the middle of the basket when bent to place; but I prefer to have them of sufIicient length to slightly overlap, as appears in Figs. 1 and 4.

The handle B is preferably a thin strip of flexible metal bowed at the middle and having its edges m doubled or folded down against the strip to stiffen the latter and render its edges thick and smooth. The handle is commonly put to place upon the body of the basket after the latter is formed, the upwardly-bent ends it being passed primarily downward within the sides of the body and thence outward through the respective openings g g, as appears in Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5, the ends being hooked under the lower edges of the sides I) b, as clearly appears in Fig. 5. The lower parts of the handle being on the outside of the body aid materially in supporting the sides against outward pressures by the contents of the basket. When convenient or necessary, as in storing the baskets, the handles may be removed.

"In some cases I find it preferable in constructing these baskets to omit the sections 0 c from the blanks O and form the cover in a single separate piece D, as shown in Fig. 9. In this case tongues Z, similar to and corresponding with the tongues Z, are formed at the edges of the cover D to occupy the slots is in the body A, as in the form first above described. In Fig. 6 is shown in longitudinal section the construction at one end of the basket, having the cover D in a single piece and detached from the connectors d d.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A pasteboard basket with the end portions of its sides overlapping each other and the ends having a pair of horizontal openings through each side wall and near the upper edges of the walls, said openings being alike and on opposite sides of the middle transverse plane of the basket, end portions integral with the bottom and bent parallel with the said overlapped ends upon the inner side thereof, a cover for the basket having a pair of tongues projecting from its opposite sides to enter and occupy said openings, a series of rectangular slots in the middle transverse plane, two through the bottom of the basket and one through either side portion of the basket, and a handle above the body of the basket with its respective end portions occupying the slots at the sides of the basket and bent upward beneath the lower edges of the side portions.

2. A sheet-blank fora basket, comprising a central bottom portion, side portions of greater length than said central portion, reotangular connectors at the ends of said central portion and of less width than the latter, and cover-sections at the ends of said connectors and of greater width than the latter and than the central bottom portion, and having lateral tongues, said side portions being of less length than the bottom and its connectors and having slits. i

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, this 23d day of December, 1905, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES B. MILLER.

Witnesses:

E. B. WHITMORE, Av M. WHITMORE. 

